


Half-Light

by sharedwithyou



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angstangstangst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27857077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharedwithyou/pseuds/sharedwithyou
Summary: Inspired by “Half-Light” by Rostam“I am too tired for theatrics.” Bruce mutters under his breath, before reaching under your armpits and dragging you onto your feet.“I’ll let you enjoy your morning coffee in peace. Let’s go for a run, Hawk.” Clint gives you another side-eye, but nods.Bruce flashes you another grateful smile, but you’re already out the door.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Reader, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark/Reader, Tony Stark/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Half-Light

**Author's Note:**

> I heard this song at the end of the most recent episode of A Teacher the series and fell in love.
> 
> I haven’t written anything Bruce related in a while so here we go!! Of course it’s angsty and all since it’s me.
> 
> Enjoy, lovelies! Leave a comment if you like!
> 
> Xoxo Bucky

“How late did you stay up last night?” You ask as you smile gently and hand him some new Peruvian coffee beans.

“That question should be reserved for Tony.” Bruce grumbles, but gives you a kiss on the cheek.

“Ew PDA.” Clint makes a puking motion but you know he’s teasing.

“Shut up Birdbrain or I will fuck him right on the table where you have your cereal.” You crow with an evil grin.

“Uh, do I get a say in that?” Bruce asks meekly.

“If your ‘say’ is no, you’re officially gay.” Clint remarks, giving you the side-eye.

“Nooooo!” You wail dramatically and collapse on the floor.

“I am too tired for theatrics.” Bruce mutters under his breath, before reaching under your armpits and dragging you onto your feet.

“I’ll let you enjoy your morning coffee in peace. Let’s go for a run, Hawk.” Clint gives you another side-eye, but nods.

Bruce smiles gratefully, glad that you know him well. “Thanks for these.” His smile falters when he realizes you didn’t get him ground coffee.

“Oh shoot, did I get you beans?”

“No worries. Just, uh, point me to the coffee grinder.”

“I wouldn’t use it if I were you.” Clint warns. “Not after Crayola Queen here.”

“Do I want to know?” Bruce raises an eyebrow at you. He knows your moodiness gets a bit much.

“I may have used it to make homemade crayons after Tony changed his Disney+ password and refused to tell me.”

“Yikes.” Bruce knows how much you love Zach and Cody. “I’ll just use Folgers today.”

“You could go green giant and crush them in your fist,” Clint offers helpfully.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Bruce could tell Clint off, but he knows you’ll save him from this uncomfortable socializing with soon.

“On that note, let’s skedaddle.” You hook your elbow in Clint’s, pulling him away. Bruce flashes you another grateful smile, but you’re already out the door.

“Usually when people say they need space, they’re a second away from dumping you.”

“Usually.” You’re too out of breath to banter properly.

“Yikes.” Clint takes pity on your pathetically out of shape body and slows down to a jog.

“Bruce is an introvert. He needs Bruce-time.” You say in puffs.

“Insert masturbation joke here.”

“I’d be totally grossed out if I didn’t totally see that coming.” The slower pace helps you catch your breath.

“Hah. Coming.” Clint snickers.

“This is why no one runs with you.” You huff.

“Also because running sucks. And you? You absolutely abhor it. I remember those exact words because it has whore in it.”

“And judging by the side-eyes you gave me, we both know why I’m doing it anyway.”

The pity is on his face now, and you feel almost as pathetic as your physical capacity is. But not quite.

“So let’s hurry up and go to the bakery on Fifth. Before they run out of cronuts.”

“Damn, bro. How late did you stay up?” Tony takes off his hangover shades to take a closer look.

“Why is everyone so nosy today?” Bruce doesn’t bother looking up from his laptop.

“Judging by your lack of hickeys I would say you had the wrong kind of rough night.”

Ever since that one time, you weren’t allowed to kiss him for more than 2 seconds at a time. And never on the same surface area more than once a day. “(Y/n) stepped on the USB that had the sample data. I had to start from scratch.”

Tony sighs sympathetically. You’d spilled soda on his phone last month. And dropped yours in the toilet three times the month before that.

“Not to be a victim-blamer but why was it on a USB and not in the computer, which is backed up every two seconds on like four clouds?”

“I ran out of storage space.”

Tony’s eyes bulge out. “There’s five terabytes on it!!”

“Yes well she just discovered these nail polish YouTube things.”

“...videos?” Steve had been on ice for decades and Thor was from another planet, but somehow Bruce was the most clueless about technology. And other things.

“Yeah. She downloaded so many videos, I ran out of space.”

Tony shakes his head. “I guess I have to spring for a new laptop now.”

So he’s a multi-billionaire, but he’s also stingy.  
This, Bruce knows well. “We could also just delete her videos.”

Tony laughs ruefully. “After accidentally drinking waxy coffee, I think I’m going to take the easy way. Hell I’ll get one for her too. What’s the point of having money if you can’t spend it?”

“Ok, just make sure you get-“

“Insurance. Definitely.”

“You done messed up, girl.”

You squint at Tony crabbily. The bakery was closed, you’d had to go to three stores before you found a coffee grinder, and you were sweaty and gross. “Speak normally, Stark.”

“You crushed Bruce’s data with your big fat foot!”

“No, he said that was just some unimportant file- oh, shit.” No wonder he’d been up so long. And was so grumpy. But why hadn’t he told you?

“Because he didn’t want you to feel bad, Dumbass.”

“What, does your new suit give you mind-reading abilities?”

“Hey if you want to learn to read minds, start with an easy one.”

You flip him off, and kick the box over to him.

“What’s this? A present for moi?”

“Yes. It’s a new personality, since your current one sucks.”

He flips you off right back, before ripping open the box. “Hey, a coffee grinder. This is the newest model, too!” He crosses his eyes and grins at you.

“I didn’t realize you were an expert in coffee grinders.” You retort, feeling a slight warmth in the pit of your stomach.

“I was looking for a replacement since you went all Etsy on mine.” He tosses back at you.

“Like you’re not too lazy to make your own coffee.”

“What can I say? I like to grind.” He wiggles his brows and you giggle despite yourself.

“Hey if anyone’s going to be grinding with her it’s me.” Bruce walks up and tucks your hair behind your ears, like it wasn’t all yucky from the jog. You blush profusely; he’s never this forward.

“I’ll leave you two to it then.” Tony remarks. “If you’re looking for condoms I have-“

“Bye Tony!” You yell over him, grabbing Bruce’s hand and racing away before he completely ruined the mood.

Back in your room, Bruce takes off his shirt and pushes you gently down onto the bed.

“Hey, Bruce?”

“Hmm?” He kisses you and you forget what you were going to say.

“Nevermind.”

He grins and kisses you again, nibbling on your lower lip.

The warmth in your stomach grows as you run your hands through his hair.

You scoot back and pull him on top of you, feeling pleasantly mashed when he loses balance and collapses onto you.

You close your eyes and sigh happily, excited you were finally being intimate again. It had been too long.

The warmth disappears when he lets out a loud snore.

You let out a sigh, exasperation this time, and lug him to his side of the bed.

But he did stay up fixing something you messed up, so you can’t blame him.

You want to though.

You shove a pillow under his head and tuck the blankets around him. You leave him to his rest.

“Not to hate on a brother, but shit that was fast.”

You roll your eyes and boot up Bruce’s laptop.

“Also, weren’t you banned from the lab?”

“Yes until I threatened to tell Pepper about the Miranda incident.”

“That was shortsighted of me.”

“Yes, Miranda was not relationship material.”

“Oh I meant letting you blackmail me. Pepper and I broke up a week later anyway. I could’ve saved us a lot of grief by banning you. You’re a walking accident.”

“I love you too,” you mock. You don’t come up with a proper comeback since you have to focus on typing. You only have three login attempts left. You double check that caps lock isn’t on.

“You can’t have forgotten the password already. You used it yesterday! You’re clumsy, not absentminded!” It was an underhand compliment, but Tony never offered anything remotely close usually.

“I must have mistyped again.” You go one letter at a time, but it still doesn’t work.

“Why are you using his laptop anyway? He’s out of memory thanks to you.”

“That’s why I’m doing it, stupid. I’m making room.” You feel bad about messing up his data. Might as well delete some videos so he has room again.

“I’ll save you the grief of deciding which French tip video you can live without.”

You quirk a smile at him. “Coffee grinder, beauty expert, what’s next?”

“Sugar daddy.” He quips, handing you a brand new laptop.

You gasp. It’s the one that came out a few weeks ago. “These have been out of stock since a few hours after they were released!”

“Eh, what’s a few extra grand to a scalper?” His smugness turns to surprise when you hop over the counter. You hug him tightly.

“Thank you Tony. I’ve never had my own laptop before.”

He clears his throat and wriggles away. “I uh transferred all your stupid videos over. Not that you’ll be able to use them on your stubby little fingers.”

He’s teasing, you know, but you can’t help pouting. “Hey, they’re good enough for Bruce.”

“Of course. But they’ll never be good enough for me.”

He ducks, but your whack never comes. When he looks back at you, you’ve turned away. He winces when he hears you sniff.

“Don’t tell me I hurt your feelings.” He speaks gruffly.

“It’s just… what if I’m not good enough for him?”

“Tough luck.” He’s trying to be cold, but his feet take him closer.

“We haven’t been together in so long.” You sound defeated, and he hates it.

“So woman up! Get his attention, tell him you want him!” He keeps his voice hard.

“Why do you think the USB broke?!” You want to be strong, but your voice comes out so weak. “It fell out of his pocket when I was trying to take his pants off. When he pushed me away, I lost balance because I was wearing those fucking stilettos.”

His breath catches in his throat. “The ones that lace all the way up?”

The warmth comes back. “The ones that Steve made me put away because they were ‘too distracting.’”

“Bruce pushed you away?”

You laugh harshly. “You know me, walking accident. Put my heel right through the USB when I tried to regain my footing.”

He’s right behind you, and his arms are threatening to wrap around you, to loosen the sadness from your heart. He needs to be cruel, to keep himself from making a mess of this.  
“Maybe if you weren’t such a hot mess all the time he’d actually want you.”

You stiffen and he’s both relieved and distressed. He needs to keep you away, but he doesn’t want to hurt you.

You turn abruptly and your face is so close to his chest you can see the grain of the fabric. “Are you saying I’m hot?”

You stare at each other and time seems to stop moving.

“Thanks for letting me sleep.”

You both turn to look at the voice.

“Sure, hon.” Your voice is clear, even if your head is all muddy.

“Well I’ll leave you lovebirds. Don’t get any bodily fluids on the counter.” Tony smirks and waltzes away.

“How was your nap?”

“It was great. Sorry we didn’t, you know.”

“I’m sorry I stepped on your data.”

“No big deal.”

“Hey, did you change your password?”

“I did. I just need…”

“Space. No problem, hon. I’ll let you get back to work now. I’ll see you at dinner?”

“Maybe. I have a lot to do though.”

“Want me to bring you a plate, then?”

“No. And if I don’t come…”

“Don’t wait up. Got it.”

“What are you doing up?” Tony had been looking forward to a night of solitary boozing and did not appreciate you sitting in his favorite bar stool. And hogging the Wild Turkey.

“What are you, my mom?”

“Technically, dad. Sugar daddy, remember?” He should tell you to scram. All that comes out is a cheeky joke.

“I don’t exactly have a curfew, do I ?”

“You’re usually asleep by eleven, like some elderly widow.”

“It’s healthiest to sleep before midnight, my dear.” You want the last part to sound mean and sarcastic, but it doesn’t. He walks past you and sits down a few seats away.

“So answer my question. Why are you up?”

You take a long sip. “That’s actually the wrong question.”

“Don’t get smart with me.” He grabs the bottle away from you and drains half of it. His alcohol tolerance is pretty impressive.

“I’m always up at this time.”

“False.”

“True.” You tap the table and he slides the bottle over. “I’m in bed, yes, but not asleep. Not til about 4 AM, usually.”

He gapes at you. “But you’re always up by…” He understands now, and the weight of it makes him sigh. “So you get what, an average of 4 hours a day?”

“Give or take.”

“That is the definition of average,” he snaps. He doesn’t know why; you’re the one with every right to be frustrated. Upset. Angry. Why is he, then?

“Thanks for the drink.” You take one more swallow and slide the bottle back. You get up and head to your room.

“(Y/n)!” He blurts your name loudly.

“What?”

He wants to ask if you need company. But if you needed company, you’d go to the lab, right? Because who in their right mind would turn you down in your nighty? “The password for Disney+ is Tonyisthegreatest. No spaces. Capital T.”

You can be a brat and ask him which T, there’s 4. But you’re sleepy for once. “Thanks, Tony.”

“Sweet dreams, my dear.”

“(Y/n)!” You wake up from your nightmare about an earthquake with a start.

“Huh!?”

“You’ve been asleep for 16 hours.” Bruce looks at you with worry. “I tried everything to wake you. I’ve been shaking you for ten minutes!”

Well, that explains the earthquake. You’d now gotten 4 days of sleep all at once. Somehow you were still tired.

“Five more minutes please.” You curl up on your side and close your eyes.

“Jesus, just how much did you have to drink?”

“Hmm maybe just a quarter bottle. No big deal.” You murmur sleepily.

“That’s a little selfish isn’t it?”

“Tony’s rich. He’ll live.”

“I mean, now we can’t spend time together.”

The drowsiness is now overwhelmed by fury. You sit up. “Why do I always have to fit your schedule? I can’t always predict when you’ll be done with work. When you want to be alone.”

He looks away. His voice is strained. “When we got together, you knew how it would be.”

“That I need to constantly gauge your reaction? That I need to predict whether you’ll want to see me, at what time during which day? That I need to be ready for both desire and rejection at all times? ”

“I didn’t ask to be this way!” He takes a deep breath, the green peeking over his hairline. “This is how things are.”

You get out of bed. “Let’s talk about this when we’re both cooler-headed.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He looks at you straight in the eye. “This is what it is. Take it or leave it.”

“Leave it, then.” You walk out of the room, ready to find another you can call all your own.

“You here to pay me back for that Wild Turkey?”

“I’m thinking vodka today.”

He sizes you up, undecided on letting you drink or telling you to go.

“I slept for 16 hours. I need a pick me up.”

He nods slowly and unlocks the liquor cabinet. He looks at his shot glass collection and chooses a black one with gold swirls.

“A shot? How about a glass?”

“I’m afraid I’ll put you in a coma.” He passes you the shot and you take it immediately.

“Another please.”

“No.”

You narrow your eyes and reach for the bottle. He pulls it away and puts it back in the cabinet.

“Come on, be a pal.” You tap the counter insistently.

“No can do, my dear.”

The term of endearment has settled over you. “Well at least take one yourself. Drinking by myself is too depressing.”

“Psh. I do that all the time.” He comments flippantly.

“Then you know. It’s lonely.”

He shakes his head in disagreement, but pours himself one nonetheless. “As you wish.”

“That’s a good boy.” He makes a face at you, but downs the shot anyway.

You hop over the counter and block the cabinet so he can’t put it away.

“Get out of the way, (y/n).” He’s not in the mood to deal with your antics.

“Just let me have some more.”

“No. You can’t handle hard liquor. You’ll do something stupid.”

You push him roughly against the bar. “I’d kill to do something stupid. I’m tired of being responsible. Being good. Waiting patiently when I should, being engaging when it’s time, always putting myself last.”

He looks at you hard. “You chose to do all of it. No one made you.”

You laugh, the bitterness seeping through. “Choice? Since when is my choice free? My heart made the choice for me.”

He looks down at his feet. “At least you were able to love. It’s better to have loved and lost-“

“Save it.” You interrupt bitingly. “That’s just what people who haven’t lost enough say.”

“Stop.” He pushes you back, and you feel the cabinet door on your shoulder blades. “Don’t make love out to be some sort of villain.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t see it too.” You put your hands on his chest and he shivers. “You think I can’t read your looks?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He barks back, but his hands travel to your waist and grip you tightly.

“If you want to learn to read minds, start with an easy one.” You unbutton his collar and press your mouth against his throat.

“Get the fuck out of my bar, (y/n).” He growls, but presses you hard against the cabinet so you can’t move.

“You want me to leave? Make me.” You trail kisses down until you find a spot that makes him shudder. You suck on it, feeling the moan as it rises to his throat before it exits his mouth.

“Mmm.” He can't say anything else, as you trail kisses back up him and slip your tongue between his lips.

“Let’s find me a new room.” You murmur into his lips. He makes a sound of agreement and leads you to an empty room on this floor.

“Do you want me, Tony?” The confidence is back in your voice and he loves it.

“You already know the answer.”

The warmth comes back to your stomach, stronger than it’s been in a long time. You push him to the bed and step out of your panties. You crawl onto him and undo his zipper.  
“How long have you been waiting for this moment, Tony?”

You’re talking dirty, like you’ve never done before. It’s powerful and freeing.

“Feels like forever, my dear.”

You feel the warmth in your stomach spread down your thighs and sigh in contentment.

And he knows it’s a rebound, it’s not what you had with Bruce, and tomorrow it might mean nothing.

But in this moment of half-light, it’s exactly what you both want, what you both need.

He slides inside of you, and it’s perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> WAHHHHH
> 
> Leave me some love if you liked!
> 
> Quick poll 1: who??!?!!!
> 
> Unfortunately as much as I love Brucie, Tony wins every freakin time 
> 
> Quick poll 2: which part made you saddest?
> 
> I think mine is when Bruce says not to wait up. Boohooooooo
> 
> Hope you’re all staying safe n healthy! Let me know how you are doing!!
> 
> Xoxo Bucky


End file.
